Wedding Garters: Don’t Blush!

Tossing the wedding garter is a fun tradition that has come to be thought of as the male version of tossing the wedding bouquet, but it has some interesting roots. There are two slightly varied roots for this tradition. The first was that in order to gain proof that the marriage was consummated a witness would be given the garter. Then along side the “as proof” tradition, the garter was seen as good luck and it was seen as good luck to get pieces of any of brides undergarments. This became quite obviously problematic in a way that no bride appreciated as people tried very desperately to get a hold of the garter. The tradition has thus tamed down to not giving it out from the bride and grooms bedroom on their wedding night to some witness and to having the groom toss the garter to the single men rather than them take it from the bride.

With that background being laid to rest in the past, the wedding garter is now a playful and teasing tradition that is fun at any wedding. Typically a bride will have two garters; one to keep and one to toss. We recommend not spending as much money on the one you will toss and to make sure the elastic has a lot of bounce. Also, the garter is a perfect opportunity to get your something blue! The garter is to be worn above the knee and during the reception with the bride sitting on a chair the groom removes it with his hands to then toss it. More…adventurous grooms with brides that won’t punch him in the nose may even decide to snag the garter with his teeth, but we recommend reading your audience on whether or not this will be appropriate or if you will be making enemies with your new in laws.

The garter is to be tossed to the single men at the wedding (much like the bouquet is tossed to the single ladies). The gentlemen who catches the garter is said to have good luck and to be the next man to get married (which is seen as a lucky thing…). Sometime people will have the gentlemen who caught the garter put it on the lady who caught the bouquet, but this might be a tradition that would make the two uncomfortable and you wouldn’t want to discourage anyone from participating in all the fun! However you do it, keep it fun, full of laughs, and PG (Don’t forget who your guests are!!!).